264 THE FARMER OF TO-MORROW 



of the science of agriculture there is no method 

 of determining. 



When it comes to a question of climatic 

 conditions, the divergence becomes very 

 marked. The yield of corn in the State of 

 Nebraska for the ten years, 1867-1876, varied 

 from 10 bushels an acre in one year to 40 

 bushels an acre in another year. The soil was 

 new, fairly uniform, and subjected to the same 

 treatment in one year as another. Yet here 

 were thousands of farmers who produced four 

 times as much corn with the same tools in 

 one year as they did in another. The effect 

 of climate on production is so great, in fact, 

 that experiments of a single year are to be 

 dismissed as of little value. That is why sci- 

 entists turn to Rothamsted for data, because 

 there we find fields that have been under ob- 

 servation for over 65 years. But, in spite of 

 this fact, the experts in charge of the Rotham- 

 sted fields are no more able to forecast the be- 

 havior of a given field to-day than they were 

 65 years ago. They know, in a general way, 

 that the use of chemicals has increased yields 

 in a majority of instances; but under certain 

 conditions of sunshine and rain the field that 

 has been most bountifully "fed" may produce 



